The economy embodies society’s flesh and culture, its heart and soul. Economics and culture in a normal society need proper attention and simultaneous development.
Body and mind need to be healthy. If only the economy is developed, then the body grows obese. If only culture is developed, then the country resembles a skeleton.
Economies provide material conditions, and culture provides conditions of the spirit. Politics could be viewed as a critical bridge linking the two. Managing human relations could be seen as the conditions for constructing a society of laws.
Taiwan emphasizes its economy, but neglects its culture. Rulers over this land have done so since their ancestors first crossed over the “black ditch” — the Taiwan Strait.
Indigenous communities had yet to develop their own writing culture, but their cultures were ones that involved responding to nature, and enacting rites and ceremonies.
Taiwan was colonized by several foreign powers, absorbing everything thrown at it. Yet, because its national core was not fully developed, its cultural, economic and political spheres were not built up in a balanced fashion. The direction it has taken — economic emphasis and cultural neglect — has not changed one bit.
Because of economic emphasis and cultural neglect, the nation tends toward technological prowess under economic growth and production chains that tie the whole world together, with people innovating their way to the economic fruits of their labor.
Taiwan’s cultural progression pales in comparison. Worshiping in temples echoes business results, inundating people with a social mentality from a former era that dreads natural disasters. With broadcast media fanning the flames, the cognizance of the problems recognized by Taiwan’s New Culture Movement from a century ago are clearer.
The factories that grow the fruits of the nation’s economic labor not only pair well with the intoxication of government officials who fawn over industry, they also have the unfortunate effect of creating an age resembling a theocracy.
Economic ideals are a response to scientific roles, but the sentimentality of culture remains mired in swamps of ancient folk customs. When the scene is examined from a cultural perspective, is a nation really something wanted by Taiwanese?
Democratization is an ingrained part of Taiwan’s history, a history of a people governing themselves. Yet, as lords of their own land, Taiwanese have a long way to go to gain and have mastery over their rights and responsibilities.
Burdened by a long martial law period, Taiwanese grew complacent in being ruled through brutality, developing an incomplete personality that runs away from freedom. This is not far from what psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm said of people being cowed.
In post-democratization Taiwan there is still the problem of it becoming an incomplete country. Stuck between the remnants of an iteration of China and a newborn Taiwan, Taiwanese still anxiously oscillate between identification and belonging. This problem was brought about by the “Republic of China on Taiwan.”
The “status quo” is an internal Taiwanese contradiction. Taiwan’s entanglement with China is also a problem of international governance.
To mold a modern public consensus, Taiwan needs to form a social movement with culture at its core.
Taiwan must build up a modern and progressive cultural revitalization movement to create a normalized, healthy sense of nationhood.
Lee Min-yung is a poet.
Translated by Tim Smith
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